Updated fee information for Rating Organizations: If approved for a license, Rating Organizations'
fees are due on or before 7/1 annually per AL Code 27-13-62.
Fees are $25 plus portal fees and are to be paid through Alabama Interactive. Please click HERE to set up your payment.
According to 27-13-100, fees ARE NOT required for Advisory Organizations.
Important Bulletin: Mandatory Serff submission for all Rate/Rule and Form filings.
Mandatory Serff November 1, 2007
Submissions should include the required filing fee per bulletin.
See Fee Schedule. Electronic
Funds Transfer (EFT) is required.
All Serff filings must be submitted in Print to PDF format.
IMPORTANT: All filings must clearly outline items being filed or revised. Any items
placed within a final manual or form not previously outlined are not considered
approved.
Authorization Form - Authorizes the filer, if other than the company, to make the
filing on behalf of the company. The Authorization Form must be submitted with each
filing in which the company itself is not submitting the filing.
To further expedite the filing process, please submit rate and rule filings separate
from form filings.
The Alabama rating statute is contained in Chapter 13 of Title 27 of the Code of
Alabama, 1975. The policy and form approval requirements are contained in Chapter
14 of Title 27 of the Code of Alabama, 1975, and both of these chapters can be accessed
in the Legislation section at www.legislature.state.al.us
.
The information contained herein is provided to assist insurers in submitting and
Departmental personnel in reviewing the filings and does not supercede the requirements
of Alabama laws and regulations governing the business of insurance. Insurers are
required to be aware of and comply with all Alabama laws, regulations, and Departmental
Bulletins.
Commercial Rate and Form Requirements
Reference should be made to the general guidelines for property and casualty
insurance rate and form filings (Shown as Exhibit A).
Defense expenses ARE ALLOWED to be included within the limits on General Liability
policies.
See Alabama Insurance Regulation No. 123
- Rates and Forms Filing Requirements for Property and Casualty Insurance - effective
July 1, 2001. (Reminder - Regulation 123 DOES NOT apply to any Personal Lines,
Worker's Compensation or Medical Malpractice filings. Any commercial rate increase
proposals which result in more than a 10% overall increase in less than 12 months,
will not be eligible for the file and use provisions of Regulation 123. There are
at least two possible scenarios where this could result in the application of prior
approval rather than the file and use provision. One is when the overall increase
proposal is for 10% or more and the other is where the proposed increase in combination
with an earlier increase results in more than an overall increase of 10% in less
than 12 months.)
See Commercial File and Use
Certification Form (Must be completed and attached to the top of any filing
being submitted under the File and Use System.)
See News Release regarding
Terrorism Exclusions. Please submit a completed Expedited Filing Transmittal
Document with each Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Filing.
All fire insurance rate filings shall provide at least five years loss experience,
including the year proceeding the year in which rates are made or revised. This
is in accordance with Section 27-13-27 (4) of the Alabama Insurance Code, 1975.
For all rate filings submitted, both on a prior approval and file and use system,
standard actuarial methods should be employed including adjustment of losses for
trend and loss development, adjustment of premiums to current level and for trend,
historical expense experience, investment income consideration, credibility consideration,
etc.
Commercial Property relative to Wind and Hail Deductibles/Exclusions and Hurricane
Deductibles - The Alabama DOI will accept reasonable mandatory or optional wind
& hail DEDUCTIBLES in all areas of the state. Mandatory or Optional Wind &
Hail EXCLUSIONS are acceptable Only in the Beach Pool area where the insured could
purchase the coverage back through the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association.
A filed deductible or exclusion must be accompanied by an appropriate credit. The carrier must comply with
Alabama Regulation 136.
Personal Lines Submissions
Reference should be made to the general guidelines for property and casualty insurance
rate and form filings (Shown as Exhibit A).
All rate submissions of new programs must include a side-by-side comparison exhibit
of at least 3 of their competitor's rates.
Personal auto liability policies should adhere to requirements for cancellation
outlined in Title 27, Chapter 23, Article 2 of the Code of Alabama, 1975.
Personal Automobile and Motorcycle Coverages - Automobile and motorcycle filings
must be submitted for prior approval. Standard actuarial methods should be employed
including adjustment of losses for trend and loss development, adjustment for premiums
to current level and for trend, historical expense experience, investment income
consideration, credibility consideration, etc. Explanation and support should be
provided for various relativity revisions, including territorial, driver classification,
symbol, model, year, etc.
Residential Property Coverage, Homeowner, etc. - Residential property coverage,
homeowner, etc., filings must be submitted for prior approval. Standard actuarial
methods should be employed including adjustment of losses for trend and loss development,
adjustment for premiums to current level and trend, historical expense experience,
investment income consideration, credibility consideration, etc. Explanation and
justification should be provided for various relativity changes including, territorial,
protection class, policy amount, etc.
Homeowners Filings and the Use of Credit -
For Homeowners ratemaking, the expectation is that while credit may be a useful
indicator of loss propensity related perils such as fire or liability, it is less
predictive of losses related to catastrophe peril, both hurricane and non-hurricane.
Any Homeowners rate filing that either introduces a new rating structure or proposes
revisions to an existing rating structure that considers credit must provide support
quantifying the predictive power of credit in measuring non-catastrophe versus catastrophe
loss propensity. The proposed rating structure related to credit should be consistent
with this support, varying the impact of credit by rating territory as indicated.
These filings should also provide rating examples that show the impact of credit
on beach and seacoast versus inland risks. The examples should develop 6 sample
premiums, specifically for a good credit risk policy and a poor credit risk policy
in the beach, seacoast in inland. The poor credit risk should be for the poorest
credit the company will actually write. These 6 sample premiums should be provided
for the current and proposed rates. All policy characteristics for the examples
should be the same except for credit, territory and any minimum deductible requirements
that vary throughout the state.
Homeowners Filings and Territorial Base Rate Changes -
For Homeowners ratemaking, Alabama's non-hurricane catastrophe exposure should be
tiered high to low going from the northern part of the state to the southern part.
This is evidenced by non-hurricane catastrophe data by territory groupings for major
insurers in Alabama, as well as weather data with regard to tornado and other wind
events. The non-hurricane catastrophe exposure should be examined and tiered to
reflect the expectation of higher non-hurricane catastrophe per amount of insurance
in the northern part of the state versus the southern part.
All Homeowners filings proposing territorial base rate changes should provide:
- Indicated rate level changes by territory
- Hurricane catastrophe, non-hurricane catastrophe and non-catastrophe components
allocated to territory used to develop the territorial indications.